Your Body Your Yoga

Learn alignment cues that are skillful, safe, and best suited to you.

Your Spine, Your Yoga is the long-awaited second book of the Your Body, Your Yoga series. Focusing on the axial body, from the tip of the tailbone to the top of the skull, Your Spine, Your Yoga will explain how your body is unique and how this uniqueness affects your yoga practice. The latest anatomical understanding of the spine and its biomechanical abilities is described in varying levels of detail, for the novice to the experienced reader. Applying these principles to a safe and effective yoga practice holds a few surprises: you may discover that not every pose in yoga is a good idea for you, given the nature of your spine and the way we have previously been taught to stress it. Stability is more important than mobility for the vast majority of people, although many yoga classes promote the opposite view. Your Spine, Your Yoga offers alternative perspectives and prescriptions for a yoga practice that is spine sparing and strength building, based upon your unique biology and biography and your unique intentions

Your Upper Body, Your Yoga is the highly anticipated final book of the Your Body, Your Yoga trilogy -- the definitive investigation of how your uniqueness affects your movements, postures and your yoga. This remarkable trilogy looks at the variations of human anatomy and its effect on the body's biomechanics. Used as a standard text for many yoga teacher training programs it provides yoga students and teachers a system for exploring what asanas are possible and sensible and which postures should best be left alone. This third book in the series looks at the upper body: the shoulder complex, arms and hands. But, there is more. This final book also includes explorations of how asymmetries and proportions affect our practice. You are unique. No one else in this whole world has your biology or biography. Why suppose that your yoga practice should be, or even could be, the same as anyone else's? How far apart should your hands be in Down Dog? Where should they be pointing? Should you avoid hyperextension of the elbows? Is hyperflexion of the shoulders safe? The answer is -- it depends! Your Upper Body, Your Yoga looks at the upper body from both the Western anatomical/biomechanical point of view and the modern yoga perspective. It is filled with detail, discussion, illustrations and practical advice for bodies of all types. Proportions and asymmetries are highly variable from person to person. The implications of asymmetries for a yoga practice and whether these asymmetries need to be changed, accommodated or simply accepted is examined along with variability in our proportions and their effect on postures. Whether the reader is a novice to yoga and anatomy or a seasoned practitioner with an in-depth knowledge, this book will be valuable. For the novice, there are easily understood illustrations and photographs, as well as sidebars highlighting the most important topics. For the anatomy specialists, other sidebars focus on the complexity of the topic, with hundreds of references provided for further investigation. For the yoga teacher, other sidebars suggest how to bring this knowledge into the classroom. Your Upper Body, Your Yoga can be used as a resource when specific questions arise, as a textbook to be studied in detail, or as a fascinating coffee-table book to be browsed at leisure for topics of current interest.

Challenge yourself to practice yoga five minutes a day with this inclusive beginner’s guide to 30 foundational yoga poses and sequences—for everyone and every body Yoga is a healthful, stress-busting, powerfully life-changing practice that is truly for everyone! You don’t need to be young, flexible, or athletic to do yoga—and you don’t need to spend hours on the mat. You just need to be yourself and commit to practicing at least five minutes a day. Here, renowned yogi Kino MacGregor presents a basic, self-paced plan to encourage you to try each of the thirty foundational poses included and slowly build a regular yoga practice. Through step-by-step instructions, over two hundred color photographs, and modifications for different body types and abilities, Kino makes yoga possible at whatever level you may be. By challenging yourself for just five minutes a day, you will end up learning a strong, basic yoga sequence that you can grow and adapt for a lifetime of yoga.

Find freedom in your yoga practice with this empowering guide from beloved yoga teacher and social justice activist Dianne Bondy and Yoga International editor-in-chief Kat Heagberg. Yoga Where You Are welcomes readers of all backgrounds, body sizes, and abilities into the practice of yoga. Dianne Bondy and Kat Heagberg offer everything you need to know to build a custom yoga practice that supports you exactly where you are--now and at every stage of your life's journey. Yoga Where You Are discusses how yoga intersects with body image, introduces essential information on elements like breathwork and meditation, and celebrates yoga's diverse roots through an introductory chapter on its origins and history. Whether you're a beginner, a seasoned practitioner, or a yoga teacher, the step-by-step instructions for hundreds of customizable pose variations provide an essential resource you can turn to as your practice evolves. Bondy and Heagberg also present tips to find inspiration and creativity on the mat. With truly inclusive language, alignment options for real bodies, and photos of a range of practitioners, the book provides you with everything you need to customize and deepen your practice with clarity and confidence.

The yoga teacher’s guide to planning and sequencing yoga classes—with over 2,000 instructional photos and 67 yoga pose sequences for students of all skill levels. Also features additional resources, including yoga class planning worksheets, comprehensive glossaries, and much more! Addressing one of the most popular topics in the yoga profession, this book offers 67 model sequences of yoga poses (asanas) that cover the broad range of yoga student experience. Inside, established and aspiring yoga teachers will find: • Over 2,000 instructional photos and guide to over 150 yoga asanas • Multiple sequences for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students • Yoga sequences for kids, teens, seniors, and women across their life cycle • Yoga classes designed for relieving depression and anxiety • Sequences for each of the major chakras and ayurvedic constitutions • Guidance for teaching breathing (pranayama) and meditation techniques • Glossary of terms and alphabetical asana index with thumbnail photographs • Yoga class planning worksheets • Representative sequences from several popular styles of hatha yoga • And many more resources for further reading! Drawing on ancient yoga philosophy and contemporary insights into functional anatomy, biomechanics, and kinesiology, Yoga Sequencing is the ultimate guide teachers looking to bring the transformative power of yoga into their practice and classes.

Yoga can benefit every body, including yours! Discover how to take advantage of all yoga has to offer with this all-encompassing yoga guide. No matter who you are or what your abilities are, Yoga for Everyone includes a fabulous 50 poses proving something for everyone to love. From plus size yoga and pregnancy yoga, to yoga for the elderly or disabled, you can explore variations and modifications to much-loved yoga poses, from the comfort of your own home. Every exercise utilizes the essential elements of yoga to ensure you can gain all the physical and mental benefits, and will also allow you to perform all 10 sequences, which combine different poses into one singular experience and focus on specific health benefits each pose has on your body. Dive straight in to discover: - A visually illustrated yoga guide showcasing diversity in people and their mixed fitness abilities - 50 yoga exercises with a minimum of 3 modifications for varying body types - 10 sequences that combine the above-mentioned exercise - Expert information in Yoga and how to incorporate these exercises into everyday life For years, books on yoga have asked readers to bend over backward (literally!) to conform to their physical demands. At DK, we believe it’s time to change that! Why not allow for readers to demand that yoga conform to their individual needs instead? This is yoga for real people! Once you familiarise yourself with the yoga exercises that best suit you and your abilities, you’ll begin to notice the benefits of yoga and positive changes they have on your body, whether it’s your enhanced flexibility, your improved posture or your stronger core. What a rewarding experience for readers! Yoga for Everyone aims to teach readers that with a little modification, anyone can practice Yoga, perfect their poses and become stronger and more confident as you go. Whether you want to structure your sun salutation or demand more from your downward dog, this all-encompassing yoga book will be your one-stop guide to achieving perfection with each pose no matter your physical ability, and learn some top tips on yoga anatomy and yoga science along the way. A must-have volume for those who want to take up yoga but don’t know where to begin, or simply those seeking to start a low-impact exercise, Yoga for Everyone can be tailored to your individual fitness needs, so you make the most out of your poses! Why not stretch yourself, literally, this New Year and try something new? Your mind, body and soul will thank you!

If you think that you have to retreat to a cave in the Himalayas to find the enlightenment that yoga promises, think again. In this second edition of Living Your Yoga, Judith Hanson Lasater stretches the meaning of yoga beyond its familiar poses and breathing techniques to include the events of daily life—all of them—as ways to practice. This edition includes three new chapters (Relaxation, Empathy, and Worship), a full index, and new interior and cover designs.Using the time-honored wisdom of the Yoga Sutra and the Bhagavad Gita to steer the course, she serves up off-the-mat practices to guide you in deepening your relationships with yourself, your family and friends, and the world around you.Inspiring and practical, she blends her heartfelt knowledge of an ancient tradition with her life experiences as a daughter, sister, partner, mother, friend, and yoga practitioner and teacher. The result: a new yoga that beckons you to find the spiritual in everyday life.